Turtle

4 posts in this topic

CJH 1

Just wondering if anybody has an ice condition/fishing report for Turtle Lake in Shoreview. I am heading there this Sunday, and haven't been on it yet this year. Any info would be great, especially if there are some bad spots to avoid!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks,

CJH

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Big E 0

As of last week, ice conditions were fine for foot travel. Some 4-wheelers and sleds also out. I've punched holes with as little as 5" and as much as 9", with a couple inches of frozen slush on top of that. This includes holes over deeper water. A few folks had started moving bigger perms out.

Can't say fishing was fabulous for me, though I was jigging for 'eyes. Talked to a friend who has been catching panfish.

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Zaraspooks 0

I was out on Saturday morning (12/22) and had a good 11" where I was fishing. Lots of slush and water on the ice. It was a tough drag out with the portable. I worked up quite a sweat. Didn't mark anything on the Vexilar or see anything on the Aqua-Vu. Was thinking about going back out on Sunday evening so I stopped by the landing earlier in the day an saw a car on the ice near the rock pile out from the access. I decided to stay home and watch the Vikes.... Should have gone fishing.

Thanks Cliff! I've been very closely monitoring Pike Bay the last few weeks I'm not far from you as the crow flies right on the bay. Still sitting at 4-5 inches of ALL refroze slush. No good ice. It's flooding over pretty good with 1-3 inches water with the couple inches snow still on top. Hopefully the cold penetrates that snow and gets things going so I can run the sled right up the bay to McKinley by next weekend.

The ice on the small pond on the west side of the road heading into SJU was able to hold my weight (which is substantial, alas). I didn't have a chisel, and I wasn't about to go any further out. Still, very good sign. I'm sure there'll be guys out by the end of the weekend, if not sooner.

I think the fishing will be outstanding this winter. They were certainly going crazy in early December. I honestly don't care about keeping any fish, though it is nice to have the option of bringing one home. I don't understand why guys drive four or five hours to catch dozens of dinks on Red Lake--especially last year when you could only keep two or three--when Mille Lacs was *insane* last year with both numbers and size. Oh well. It obviously sucks for the businesses, but I won't complain about having the best flats all to myself.
We were up on the northwest side out of Myr Mar. The harbor didn't even freeze up. We did nothing special...trolled slowly using big baits, on shoreline breaks, over remaining weeds, and over rocks. It was just like the old days, only back then we thought we were tough when we fished in early November.